Her Little Prince
by RegalBunny5
Summary: REGAL BELIEVER After Henry left her to live with Emma, Regina became depressed and starts having memories of back when Henry loved her. Possibly Swan Queen in future chapters, possible Outlaw Queen later on. Haven't decided what I'm gonna do with this story yet. Rated T for possible violence in future chapters.
1. Evil Queen

"Henry!" Regina screamed out. It was early in the morning when she woke herself up from her restless sleep. Her heart was racing and her breath was shallow. The nightmare had left her in a panic as she raced to Henry's room to see if it was true. She ran to the bed and realized Henry wasn't there. "It wasn't dream. It was a memory." Regina desperately mumbled to herself, her heart was still beating incredibly fast. She curled up on Henry's bed and hugged his pillow to her chest. The sobs overtook her body, echoing throughout the house.

Her darling Henry had left her to live with his birth mom, Emma, but she couldn't blame him. Ever since he had found out he was adopted, he started pulling away from her. Regina had tried so hard to get him back but it just resulted in him screaming out, "You're not my mom!"over and over. Ever since the first time he told her he didn't love her, three years ago, Regina cried herself to sleep every night. Her baby no longer loved her, and of all the things that had ever happened to her, that was by far the worst. He was the first person since Daniel that she had let see behind her mask, and the result broke her in every way imaginable.

She could still remember the day Henry wouldn't let her leave him the day he started preschool. He had rarely spent a day away from her. They had tried one daycare per week for about a month, but none of them met her standards. Her little prince deserved the best, so instead he was her little helper at work. After all she was the mayor, who was going to argue with her?

 _"Mommy, please don't leave me!" Her little prince said as he was hugging her leg. He cried at the thought of leaving his beloved mother's side._

 _"Baby, it's okay. I'll be back for you in six hours and if it's that bad I'll come pick you up earlier." Regina gently ran her hand through her son's hair. Henry still wasn't convinced enough to stop strangling his mother's leg. He let out another sob before Regina tried another method. "Would you like me to walk you in?" Regina questioned. Henry's head slowly nodded up and down in agreement. "Okay, darling let's go inside."_

 _As they walked into the classroom many children were staring at them. Every single child that was staring was now getting an icy glare from the former queen. She refused to let them judge her baby. Regina kneeled down to Henry's level to look in to his greenish brown eyes. "If you need anything at all just have the teacher call me okay?"_

 _"Okay." Henry had tears in his eyes as his bottom lip wobbled. Upon seeing her son's sad face she wrapped her arms tightly around him. She closer her eyes and held him close. She felt his small arms wrap around her waist._

 _"I love you Henry." She told her distraught son._

 _"I love you too." He said while he rest his head on her shoulder._

 _She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Be brave, my little prince." She said as she affectionately grabbed his chin. She leaned forwarded and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Goodbye, my love."_

 _"Goodbye, mommy."_

The tears fell faster at the memory.

She didn't even know if Henry was alright, if he missed her. She didn't know if he remembered to brush his teeth before bed or finished homework. She had been worrying about him for the past twelve hours and it was starting to make her head hurt.

 _This is ridiculous, I should just text Emma... but what if she won't tell me? No, I have to know he's okay... but it's four in the morning. Okay first thing in the morning I'll text her... but what if he's hurt?_

Regina went to her room to get her phone but returned to Henry's room afterward. She felt more comfortable in her son's room tonight. She began her text. She knew she would have a better chance of getting Emma to reply by using her first name.

 **Hello, Emma, how is my son-**

She took a look a the text before erasing the words my son.

 **Hello, Emma, how is Henry doing?**

A tear fell on her screen as she typed Henry's name.

She rest her head on Henry's pillow, sighing as she hit send.  
_

 _Should I even be doing this. This is borderline stalking._

Regina was desperate to see her son's sweet face and had come up with the idea to come to the school to at least see that Henry was indeed okay. She wasn't entirely convinced when Emma replied, **"He's fine."** She needed to know he was more than fine. She would be an absolute wreck if he wasn't happy.

She looked around the school until the sight of her son froze her in place. He was smiling up Emma and wrapped his arms around her waist. Regina let the tears run down her face, he hadn't hugged her in three years. She thought this was what she wanted, for her son to be happy, but the sight of him being completely happy without her broke her heart.

She watched him walk up to the school with his backpack slung across his shoulder. Then she remembered the other reason she came to the school. She looked to the passenger seat and grabbed the lunch that was made exactly the way Henry liked it. She got out of the car and walked up to Emma.

"Miss Swan." Regina said, causing Emma to turn around.

"Oh, Regina, if you're here to see Henry, I don't think it's such a good idea right now. He is still very upset."

"I'm not here to see Henry." Regina said a bit forcefully before clearing her throat. "I came to bring him his lunch the way he likes it. That is, if you don't mind bringing it to him."

"Yeah, I can do that. Do you want me to tell him it's from y-" Emma was interrupted.

"No, just tell him you made it Miss Swan. Thank you, and have nice day." Regina quickly stormed back to her car before she had the chance to cry.

She sat in the car crying for the next ten minutes. She felt helpless, like she was living in a haze. She barely remembers driving to her office. Once she arrived she immediately started working on her paperwork. It was mostly just people telling her that she should leave everyone alone, that she should pack up and move out of town. Once she finished her paperwork she spent the rest of the afternoon spinning in her chair, sketching, snacking, cleaning and rearranging her office all in hopes to get her mind off Henry. Despite her best attempts to get Henry off her mind she took a look around and realized it hadn't worked at all. All the sketches were pictures of Henry doing different things. She had put some of the snacks off to the side out of habit, they were all Henry's favorite snacks. She had rearranged her office exactly the way Henry had planned it four years ago.

She glanced around the room one last time before her eyes locked on a photo of Henry and herself on her desk. They were both smiling, it was a picture from Henry's sixth birthday. It was the last of Henry' birthdays where they were both truly happy. She looked at the way Henry was looking at her in that photo, he really loved her, but that felt like ages ago.

Regina picked up her phone and began calling Emma's phone. It rang three times before Emma finally picked up.

"Regina?" Emma answered.

"Miss Swan, I am calling in regards to my-" Regina shook her head and cleared her throat before proceeding "Henry. I would like to see him tonight. Do you think he would let me see him? I would like to apologize to him." Regina replied in her usual cold, emotionless tone.

"Regina, I highly doubt he's ready to-" Emma was cut off.

"Can you ask him?" She sounded angry but that was mostly to cover up the act that she was on the verge of tears. "Please?" She added after a minute, this time the desperation in her voice shone though and was impossible to miss.

"O-Okay." Emma replied obviously shocked by the suddenly vulnerability Regina had shown. Yesterday she would have swore Regina didn't have a vulnerable bone in her body.

"Thank you... Miss Swan, can you... never mind." Regina choked back the tears.

"Okay, you're welcome. Um, Henry is here, I'll ask him, just give me a minute." Emma was still shocked by the sudden change in the mayor's behavior.

"Okay." Regina replied. She finally managed to get her emotions under control, that was until she heard Henry's voice over the phone, that was enough to put her over the edge. She took deep breaths in order to keep her tears at bay.

"Regina, he said he isn't ready to see you today but he would be okay with seeing you for short period of time this weekend." Emma replied, oblivious to the fact that those words were like a gun to the heart to Regina.

"..." Regina's end of the phone remanded silent as she desperately tried to stay strong, she couldn't show any signs of weakness to Emma Swan.

"Regina?" Emma was a little worried about the mayor, and that confused her more than anything. Since when did she care if the mayor of evil was upset?

"Okay. Goodbye Miss Swan." Regina couldn't hide the break in her voice as she said those words. She hung up he phone, or at least she thought she did. She could still her their conversation.

"You couldn't at least meet with your mom tonight?" Emma said, it appeared she felt bad for Regina.

"She's not my mom, she's the evil queen. I don't want to see her." Henry's determined voice rang in Regina's head until the words finally sunk in.

Regina quickly hung up the phone, she desperately tried to keep her emotions bottled up inside, but it was no use. She felt broken, like her life had lost all meaning. If she wasn't a mother, who was she? She wiped away her tears, not that it was much use, fresh tears appeared in seconds. She walked over to the mirror in an attempt to clean herself up. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. She no longer recognized herself, she looked like a broken shell of woman she once knew.  
_

She laid in bed that night, crying for hours until she didn't think she could possibly cry anymore. She started doubting whether or not Henry was actually happy during those years that she had thought he loved her. She bit back the sobs as she tried to push those thoughts aside. Her heart ached for her little prince, she needed him more than she had ever imagined.

Henry's words echoed through her head. "She's the evil queen"

 _"She's not the evil queen! Stop calling her that!" Henry shouted at the kid who had called his mom the evil queen. Regina was aware what the rest of the town called her but she had done an excellent job making sure Henry never knew, until now that is. It was the first time Henry had heard someone call his mom this._

 _"Henry, darling, is everything alright?" Regina asked, she was here to pick Henry up from school and Henry hadn't known she was there yet. When she walked up to see her son sobbing and she was willing to do anything to make him feel better._

 _"Mommy!" Henry ran into her arms, he nearly knocked her to the ground but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered in that moment was that her son needed her._

 _"Baby, are you okay?" Regina asked. She hated nothing more than seeing her prince upset. The concern was evident in her chocolate brown eyes._

 _"No, he called you the evil queen!" Henry sobbed louder, causing Regina to hold Henry closer._

 _"Is that was this is about? Oh, Henry." Regina looked her son in the eyes. "Do you think of me that way?"_

 _"No mommy!" He looked almost offended that she would think that._

 _"It doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks, so if you don't think that then I will always be happy." Regina replied with tears of joy in her eyes, she had always been worried what her son would think of her. She had always thought when he finally heard someone call her the evil queen, that he would agree, and that scared her. To hear him say he didn't think of her that way was all she ever dreamed of. He didn't think of her like everyone else did, he believed that she was good._

 _"Really, mommy?" Henry asked, the tears still running down his face._

 _"Baby, people are going to say things about me that aren't good, but so long as I have you, I don't care what they think."_

 _"Okay, momma. Can we go get ice cream?" Henry asked and was preparing an argument on why he should be allowed to eat ice cream but his mother's next words surprised him._

 _"Yeah, I think we both deserve a little treat." Regina said while laughing softly at how easily Henry's troubles were forgot._

Another set of sobs threatened to escape as she realized her son now thought of her like everyone else did.

A/N: Thank you in advance to everyone reading this! Please leave a review if you can, any ideas for the next chapter would be amazing!


	2. The Thief

_Regina woke up due to the yelling coming from outside her house. She looked out the window of her room to find the entire town had gathered in her front yard. She heard an urgent pounding coming from the front door. She ran downstairs and grabbed the handle to the door, took a deep breath and put up her highest walls, put on her darkest mask. She turned the door knob, lips drawn up in a snarl. She looked around the crowd as they shouted out, "Kill her!" They surrounded her._

 _"Don't you know who you're dealing with!" She shouted and just as she was about to reduce them to ashes, she saw her son's face staring back at her. In mere seconds her walls were down and her mask had dropped. Seeing her vulnerability, the crowd took the opportunity to grab her. They threw her against the wall and put a knife to her throat. The cold steel of the knife nicked her neck as she winced in pain._

 _"Hold still, Madam Mayor, this will only hurt if you struggle." The man holding the knife to her throat threatened her with smirk painting the features on his gruff face._

 _"Henry, please. Please don't let them do this." Regina pleaded. She looked at him through tear-filled eyes, begging for one last chance from her son. She started at his eyes, hoping he knew how sorry she was for everything she had ever done wrong to him._

 _"You're not my mom, you're the Evil Queen." Henry stared at her with cold hostile eyes. He walked over and leaned in closer to her face. "Kill her." He stated, a twisted smile appeared on his face._

 _"No! Henry, please. I'll be good." Regina choked on the words a young foolish girl once told her mother. She let the tears fall down her face, the sobs causing the knife to cut deeper, until everything faded to black._

Regina gasped as she sat up on the bed, reaching for her neck to make sure it really was just a dream. The same dream had plagued her mind everyday for the past week. Every dream still just as painful as the last. She looked around the room as she came back to reality, realizing she had been sleeping in Henry's room again. For the past week she had done this to be as close to Henry as possible.

She got up to go get a drink, she knew from experience that she wouldn't be falling back asleep any time soon. As she made herself a cup of tea she looked up at the time on the stove, it was 4:30 in the morning. Regina sighed, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to keep from trembling. Her mind knew how to bring her worst fears to life, torturing her with her worries. She grabbed her cup of tea and brought in into the cold living room, pushing all thoughts of the haunting dream form her mind.  
_

Regina walked in Granny's Diner for some coffee, she had decided she might as well get some fresh air for the first time this week. Well, she still went to work everyday but that was it. It had been five days since she had talked to Emma on the phone about visiting Henry. Emma had told her that Henry was going to meet with her on Saturday, but the catch was Emma had to be there. Usually Regina would have protested but she was desperate to be with her prince. So they had agreed that the three of them would meet up tomorrow night.

She was about to walk up to Granny to place her order but was interrupted when someone crashed into her. Regina was about to tell the person that they should watch where they're going if they don't want meet one of her fireballs, but then she saw who it was.

"Oh I'm sorry- Regina?" Regina visibly winced at the use of her name. It cut through her heart like a knife.

"Henry, that's fine dear. How are you?" Regina asked, trying to mask the ache she felt in her heart from being so close, yet so distant.

"I'm good, but Emma is waiting in the car for me so-" Henry sentence was cut short as the overprotective mother in Regina kicked in.

"She let you come in here by yourself?!" Regina questioned, she was in complete shock.

"No, she came in but I had to use the restroom so she told me to meet her back in the car." Henry awkwardly defended his mother, even though he knew Regina would have waited inside for him.

"Of course, sorry it's just... habit." Regina replied looking down in shame. She knew she no longer had the right to mother Henry. She looked up when she remembered something she was gong to ask Henry. "Oh, Henry, I was going to ask you this tomorrow, but since I ran into you here I might as well ask you now. Would you like to spend the night tomorrow?" Regina watched Henry's face as her words registered. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Regina quickly added as soon as she saw the hesitance on Henry's face.

"I'm not sure, I um, I'm ready to do that." Henry stumbled over his words, looking to avoid seeing the hurt in his mother's eyes.

"Right, I just thought you might like to spend the night in your old room, that's all." Regina replied before clearing her throat, "I um, I have to go back home, it was nice seeing you." Regina rushed out of the diner, forgetting all about her plan to get coffee. She tightly crossed her arms, wrapping them around herself in an attempt to protect herself from the ache in her chest and the emptiness in her heart. She ran back to her house as fast as her four inch heels would allow her.  
_

When she arrived back home she immediately began taking everything that reminded her of Henry and put in a cardboard box. She grabbed the apple made from paper and cardboard that Henry had given her for Mother's Day. She took down every photo on the mantel of her and Henry, tears pouring uncontrollably down her face then landing on her jacket. She ran upstairs to grab the final thing to put in the box. It was the stone with Henry's handprint and the words 'For mommy' written across it. That simple slab of stone was the most valued thing in the world, to her at least.

After staring at for a moment she set it in the box. Walking in her closet she put the box onto the top shelf, causing something to fall to the ground. She picked up and suddenly realized what it was. It was an old photo album filled with photos of her and Henry together, some just of Henry.

She opened the book up and was immediately flooded with memories. The first photo is from Henry's first Christmas, he was proudly sitting on her lap, holding his new stuffed horse with a bright smile on his face. Regina had chosen that stuffed horse because it looked exactly like her childhood horse she had loved so much.

She moved on to the photo on the next page, it was a photo of her and Henry when he was five. They were getting ready to leave for the annual Mother/Son Dance, they had held it every year in Storybrooke and Regina had never cared about it until that year. Henry was wearing a white tuxedo with a black bow tie. He had a wide smile on his face, his arms protectively wrapped around his mother's waist. Regina was wearing a long sleeve bareback dress. It had red lace sleeves that started just below her shoulders and came down to her fingers, the rest of the dress was pure black. Her hair was all off to one side, she had choose that hairstyle because Henry had told her that it made her look the most beautiful he had ever seen her.

Regina turned the page but the tears clouding her vision made it impossible to see. She wiped the tears away, as she did so the next picture of her precious son came into view. It was of her and Henry, he was four at the time, baking Christmas cookies. After this year it became their tradition to make cookie on Christmas Eve. Henry was mixing the batter as Regina watched him with a smile, thinking she had more time before the camera's self timer took the photo. Regina wiped the tears off of the photo, thinking back to one of the best days of her life.

 _"Mommy! Mommy! Can I help ?" Henry excitedly bounced up and down at the announcement that his mother was going to make Christmas cookies._

 _"Well, that depends, do you think my little prince can handle it?" Regina teasingly asked. She happily smiled at her joyful son._

 _"I can handle it. I'm a good little prince!" Henry answered echoing her words from last night._

 _"Yes, I suppose you are." Regina said looking lovingly into her son's eyes. He smiled back up at her, proud to make his mother happy."So I guess we should go to the store to get the ingredients. Do you want to come or should I drop you off at-" Regina didn't even need to finish her sentence as her four year old son dragged her arm. She was barely able to grab her purse before she was yanked out the door._

 _"Henry, it's freezing out here, we need to go get our coats." Regina told the impatient little boy._

 _"Okay, then can we leave?" Henry asked while dragging his mother back inside to the coat rack._

 _"I have to lock the door, and then yes we may leave." Regina said while putting on her black coat and helping Henry put on his._

 _"But mommy!" Henry argued in protest._

 _"Well do you someone to break in and steal our things?" Regina asked while smiling at her son's adorable pouting face._

 _"No! They will steal Gala!" Henry shouted, worried they might steal his stuffed horse._

 _"Yes I'm sure that is the first thing they would steal, which is exactly why we need to lock the house up." Regina replied, hiding her amused smile from his view. She quickly locked the door and proceeded to be dragged to her car._

 _When they arrived at the store Henry was bouncing out of his seat. Before Regina had adopted Henry Christmas meant nothing to her, but now it meant seeing her son's face light up Christmas morning. She helped Henry out of the car and held his hand as they walked up the store._

 _As they walked down the isles Henry rode on the end of the cart while Regina picked out the ingredients._

 _"Mommy ride the cart with me!" Henry smiled as he tried to convince his mother to have some fun. He knew she never was relaxed in public._

 _"Henry, I am much to old to do that." Regina argued while looking for the right flour._

 _"No you're not. Pretty please mommy." Henry answered hoping it was enough to convince her._

 _"Henry." Regina said in tone that told Henry to drop it._

 _Henry walked around to the front of the cart and stood on the ledge to get closer to his mother's height. "Mommy." He said in the same tone she had just used on him._

 _Regina laughed at her son adorable immiation of her. She softly shook her head, she couldn't believe she let her son talk her into this. She put one leg on the ledge of the cart and used the other to push off. They both laughed as they rolled down the isles grabbing ingredients as they rode side by side. Regina was in charge of steering and Henry was in charge of making his mother laugh. Henry was doing an excellent job and Regina was doing an okay job other than the two times they crashed._

 _After they got done getting the ingredients, they headed home an got everything ready to start making it. Regina set down a stool so Henry could mix one of the bowls._

 _"Okay we are now ready to combine them." Regina told Henry. They combined the bowls and Regina instructed Henry how to mix the final bowl._

 _She grabbed her camera, placed it in front of Henry and set the self timer for ten seconds. By the time she walked over there the picture took as she was smiling down at Henry. She couldn't be prouder in that moment of her little prince._

 _"So do we get to eat it now?" Henry asked for the fourth time._

 _"Henry as I said before it is still batter, we have to bake it before we can eat it." Regina smiled at her impatient boy. "I'm going to go get the pan, you stay here." Regina said as she walked away to get the pan._

 _Henry watched as her mother walked away before dipping his finger in the batter and licking it off. He took a step off the stool before quickly spinning around when he heard his mother's footsteps._

 _"Hmm, Henry, did you eat the batter?" Regina asked with a loving smirk._

 _"No." Henry looked down guiltily._

 _"Then why do you have batter on your nose?" Regina asked as she wiped it off his nose._

 _"I'm sorry mommy." Henry said with tears in his eyes._

 _"It's okay baby." She smiled at him as she wiped the tears from his eyes. "I guess I didn't think about the thief being in the house." Regina laughed and Henry's laugh soon followed close behind. "So shall we get back to making those cookies?" Regina questioned._

 _"Yeah!" Henry excitedly squealed. Regina lovingly watched as Henry carefully spread the batter out on the pan._

 _After putting the cookies in the oven they decided to rest on the couch. Regina sat down and within seconds Henry was in her lap. Regina's arms reached out to tightly wrap around Henry. She held him as close as possible._

 _"Hey, mommy?" Henry asked breaking the silence._

 _"Yes, baby?" Regina questioned with her eyes closed as she savored this moment with her son._

 _"I love you." Henry said snuggling in closer. Regina's eyes flashed open in shock. He had never said that before, sure he had said it back but he was never the first one to say it._

 _Regina eyes shone with tears of joy. "I love you too, my little prince." She said, failing to hide the break in her voice._

 _Henry pulled back slightly to look at his mother's crying face. "Mommy, why are you sad?" He said frowning at his mother's despair._

 _"Baby, I'm not sad, I'm the most happy I've ever been. These are tears of joy." She said with her brightest smile._

 _"Oh." He replied, returning her smile._

Now she cried, but for a much different reason.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! Your words were very encouraging, hope to hear what you think of this new chapter! Also please tell me if you guys would like to see this be strictly regal believer, swan queen, or outlaw queen. No matter what regal believer will always be the number one priority.**


	3. Scotch Tape

Regina nervously wiped down the table for the fourth time in the past ten minutes. Today was the day Henry was coming over and Regina was a nervous wreck. Whenever she was stressed or nervous she cleaned, it had been as nervous habit of hers for as long as she could remember. She still had two hours before Henry would arrive but she had cleaned every inch of the house. Well, almost every inch, she still had yet to clean the back room that hadn't been touched in what seemed like forever.

She grabbed supplies to go dust and headed to the back room. Upon entering the room Regina began taking down the decorations when she stumbled across one she thought she would never see again. She gasped as she spun the broken glass apple in her hand. It had been taped back together with scotch tape, there were pieces missing, and it wasn't put back together right at all, but to her it looked the best she had ever seen it. She put it aside to place on her nightstand later. She smiled at the thought of her considerate boy.

 _They had just finished dinner so Regina had decided to surprise Henry with his favorite dessert while he played in the back room with his stuffed horse, Gala. She was wiping down the table when the stove timer went off so she went to take the brownies out of the oven._

 _"Henry, I have a sur-" She was interrupted by the screams of a five year old child. Her could hear her heart beat faster in her chest. She started running as fast as she could towards the sound of the scream._

 _"Henry!" she yelled mindlessly. Her son could be hurt and that terrified her to the very core._

 _Regina rushed into the room as fast as she could, immediately lifting her distraught son into her arms. Upon glancing around the room she pieced together what must have happened, the glass apple was shattered into five big chunks and hundreds of tiny shards. "Baby are you okay? Are you hurt?" Regina questioned._

 _"I-I-I'm sorry!" Henry shouted between sobs. "I'm so sorry."_

 _"Are you hurt?" Regina asked again, not caring about anything else other than making sure her son was okay. After she got no reply she began inspecting him to check if he had gotten hurt. After two extremely thorough inspections from head to toe she was finally convinced that he wasn't hurt. The entire time Henry had been shouting his apologies._

 _She took his chin gently in her hand to try to persuade him to look at her. "Baby, if you're not hurt then why are you crying?" She asked with concern._

 _"Are y-you mad at me?" Henry asked, not yet able to look his mother in the eye after what he'd done._

 _"Of course not sweetheart, why would you think that?" Regina asked, clearly confused._

 _"Cause I-I broke the apple, and th-then you yelled and s-so I thought you were mad." Henry explained, stuttering due to his intense sobbing. This was the first time he had ever done something wrong, that he could remember at least, and he was terrified his mother would think._

 _"Oh, no, sweetheart. I yelled because I was worried you had gotten hurt." Regina said as she put her arms around him. He gratefully returned the hug._

 _"So, you're not mad? ...But I broke the apple." Henry asked still a little confused._

 _"No, I'm not mad. The only thing that matters to me is that you're safe." Regina said as Henry wrapped himself tighter around her. "Okay, why don't I clean this up and you go choose a movie for us to watch while we eat brownies, okay?" Regina watched as her son's face lit up upon hearing the word 'brownies'._

 _"You made brownies?! Those are my favorite!" Henry excitedly squealed._

 _"I know, that's why I made them." Regina replied laughing at how cute he was when he got excited._

 _He ran off to go pick out the movie they would watch, and Regina, knowing her son, guessed it would more likely than not be "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves." She had absolutely hated that her son liked that movie until he told her why. He told her he thought the Evil Queen was misunderstood, that she must have had a reason to kill Snow White, while this made Regina happy she still knew that Henry tried to see the good in everyone. But what he said next melted her heart. He told her that the Evil Queen wore red lipstick just like his mommy. Regina had been thrilled that he liked the movie because it reminded him of her._

 _After she cleaned up every piece of glass, she threw in all in the trash and joined Henry to watch the movie. Just as she had suspected, he chose "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." So after finishing the movie she tucked Henry into bed and went to sleep herself. Little did she know her little prince was carefully digging through the trash to get the five chunks of glass that could be salvaged. He then went to her office to get the scotch tape and taped the pieces back together. When he was done it looked nothing like an apple but he wanted to do something to make up for what he'd done._  
_

Regina opened the door to greet Emma and Henry. "Hello, Miss Swan." She greeted with her usual ice cold mask. "Hello, Henry." When Regina greeted Henry her entire demeanor changed, something that didn't go unnoticed by Emma.

"So, I brought some pizza. I tried making lasagna but I ended up burning it so I ordered a pizza instead." Emma told her while trying to give her a slight smile.

"Thank you, Miss Swan. Because nothing quite says family dinner like grease in a cardboard box." Regina sarcastically replied, and so Emma chose to believe it meant Regina was feeling back to normal. She was still in shock over the vulnerability Regina had shown her during their encounter a week ago. "Please, come in."

After they walked inside they proceeded to have probably the most awkward dinner in history. Other than a few inside jokes between Henry and Emma that made Regina feel worse, the entire dinner had been silent. So after seeing how loving Henry was to Emma, Regina excused herself to try and push her feelings deep down and put on her mask.

 _I'm fine. Henry is allowed to love his other mother... But it hurts so much._

She thought as she rested her head on the back of the bathroom door. She took a look at herself in the mirror.

 _He will never love you._

She told herself. She spent the next several minutes crying and trying to pull herself together.

After cleaning herself up she headed back downstairs. She was walking back into the kitchen when she overheard part of their conversation.

"Why did you make me come here? She-" Henry stopped mid sentence when he realized Regina was standing in the kitchen, frozen dead in her tracks at his words with her mouth left hanging open. "Sorry I just-" His sentence was cut short by Regina.

"It's fine, Henry. You don't have to apologize. If you don't want to be here you may leave." Regina answered, pretending her world hadn't just come crashing down. She knew the tears were falling down her face but she couldn't bring herself to stop them. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could. As soon as she got to her room she sat down on the bed, letting the sobs take total control of her body. She felt like she was being pulled to the bottom of the deepest ocean, the water slowly taking away her ability to breath, taking away her reason to live. She wasn't even sure if she had walked to the right room but she didn't bother opening her eyes to check.  
_

 **Downstairs**

Henry got up from his seat and started following his mom when Emma grabbed his arm.

"Kid, I don't think that's a good idea. We should just give her some space." Emma told Henry, not wanting Regina to hurt him worse by lashing out at him because she was in pain.

"Trust me, I've only seen her cry twice in my life. Once out of happiness, and once because she was sad. Trust me, she needs me." Henry stated.

 _"Henry! Don't hurt him!" Regina yelled with all the fury of an angered mother. She looked at the scene before her. Some guy had gotten angry at her because she refused to do him a favor that would have been impossible to fulfill, so he had decided to take it out on the mayor's precious child._

 _"Beg." The man told her._

 _"Please don't hurt him! I'll do anything, just please let him go!" She desperately shouted on the verge of tears._

 _"I'll let him go, but you own me that favor. Deal?" Regina hadn't been paying attention to anything but her son and didn't reply. "Deal?!" He repeated._

 _"Deal! Now let him go!" Regina commanded. The man pushed Henry forward but before he could fall Regina rushed forward to catch him. She wrapped her arms tightly around him as he cried onto her jacket._

 _That night she tucked Henry into bed but not without making sure every door and window in the house was locked. She then went to bed. She stared out the window while the tears came crashing down. Henry had gotten hurt and it had been her fault. She tried to keep her crying as quiet as possible so she wouldn't wake up Henry, but he had never gone to sleep. She quickly wiped away her tears when she heard the door creak open. But it was too late, he had already seen her tears. He ran onto the bed as quickly as he could._

 _"Mom, are you hurt?" He asked, scared the man had hurt his mother._

 _"No, I'm not hurt." Regina said, holding him close just for reassurance that he really was okay. They stayed like that for minutes, just content in each other's embrace._

 _Henry soon broke the silence, "Mom, why were you crying then?" He curiously asked._

 _Regina took a deep breath and closed her eyes before answering. "I'm scared," Regina now looked at Henry. "I'm scared that people will hurt you, because of me." She couldn't look Henry in the eyes when she said the last part._

 _"Mom," Henry said looking fearfully at her. "will you protect me?"_

 _"Baby, I will_ _ **always**_ _protect you. No matter what." Regina replied, looking Henry straight in the eyes to prove to him she was telling the truth._

 _"Mom, I'll protect you too." Henry told her._

 _"I know you will, my little prince." She kissed his forehead as she let the tears of happiness wash over her._

Henry ran up the stairs, arriving outside his mother's door. He peaked in the open door and saw Regina sitting on the bed, sobbing louder than he had ever heard her before. The door creaked as he walked in but Regina didn't hear it over the sound of her sobs.

"Mo...Regina, I'm sorry." Henry said while standing in the doorway to her room.

Regina quickly wiped away her tears when she realized Henry was in the room. She stood up to face him. "Henry, you don't need to apologize. I'm fine." Regina lied and Henry saw right through it. Regina tried to give him a reassuring smile but it just looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Then why were you crying?" Henry questioned, at some level knowing Regina needed him now, but he wasn't willing to admit it to himself.

"I'm fine Henry." Regina said not wanting Henry to think he was responsible for her tears. She took deep breath and bent down to Henry's level. "If you don't want to come here, then you don't have to. Only come if you want to, okay? I just want you to be happy." Regina told her son but the words killed her to say out loud. She wanted, no, needed to see him.

"Really?" Henry asked, slightly surprised.

"Really." Regina said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Thank you." Henry said turning to leave.

"And Henry?" Regina asked causing Henry to turn back around. "I truly am sorry for everything I've done."

Henry studied her for a moment but only found sincerity in her eyes. Regina was slightly trembling, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if Henry rejected her again.

Henry looked down as he mumbled out his reply, "It's fine." After turning around to leave he added, "Oh, and thank you for the lunch."

"What?" Regina said not knowing what Henry was talking about.

"The lunch you made for me a week ago. Emma wouldn't have known how I like it." Henry replied before turning and leaving.

Regina smiled upon realizing what he was talking about. She thought back to what he had first said when entering the room, he had almost called her mom. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought, she had been aching to hear Henry say that word.  
_

Regina headed downstairs with a box for Emma, right as they were getting ready to leave. Henry was in the restroom at the moment.

"Miss Swan, I want you to have these." Regina said handing Emma the box.

"What are they?" Emma asked, looking down at the box.

"They are old videos of Henry from when he was younger." Regina replied, never taking her eyes off the box.

"Regina I can't-" Emma was interrupted.

"I want Henry's mother to know a little about Henry's childhood." Regina said.

"Er, Thank you." Emma awkwardly replied.

A/N: I promise next chapter you will get to see what the videos are about! Please review, all are appreciated!


	4. Vanilla

**A/N: Okay so in this chapter I'll be introducing Robin! (Still can't decide what I'm going to do about romantic ships for if I should just focus on Regal Believer. As a result you will be hearing both Robin and Emma's thoughts.) So in this story Robin came with Emma and August through the portal before the curse. Emma and Robin met when Emma was 20 and have been good friends ever since. I know this doesn't exactly add up with the whole Roland thing but I'll figure that out later, It's not important for this chapter anyways. Also I just realized I never told you guys how old Henry is, he is 10 in this story and it's sometime after the curse broke. Better late than never right?**

"Why would she just give me these videos? It doesn't make sense." Emma said while pacing the room.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would say she gave you the videos because she intended for you to watch them." Robin sarcastically responded.

"Robin! This is serious! I mean Regina is usually so guarded and cold." Emma explained to Robin who was content watching Emma pace back and forth as he sat on the couch.

"Well, worse case scenario, they're death threats that she will use to get you to give up Henry." Robin said, now leaning back on the couch.

"What if they are?" Emma nearly shouted.

"I was kidding, Em." Robin said while rolling his eyes at her.

"Sorry, I know I'm being ridiculous but I can't help but think by watching these videos I will just be confirming Henry's terrible childhood." Emma explained while wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"How do you know he had a terrible childhood, exactly?" Robin questioned her, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Why else would he want to leave her? I practically had to force him to go see her last night. I don't really know if I can trust her around him." Emma said, her pacing now getting faster.

"Well, then I'd suggest you watch the tapes." Robin replied while looking through her fridge for something to eat.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Emma asked, totally confused.

"If you want to know if it's still safe for Henry to see her then I would watch the tapes and find out what his childhood was really like. If he really did have a bad childhood then, yeah, don't let her see him, but if he had a good childhood then it's wrong to keep her away. After all she did raise him." Robin explained his reasoning.

"Okay, fine. I'll watch them. Do you want to join me?" Emma asked as Robin sat down on the couch after finding some chips to eat.

"Yeah, I'd like to see what the Evil Queen looks like, I've heard about her but I've never actually seen her." Robin told Emma.

"What type of things have you heard about her?" Emma asked, concerned if she should let her son go near to former Evil Queen.

"I've heard many tales about the destruction she caused, about the thousands she's killed, and tales of how fearsome she'd looked. To me it just seems as if she got lost. I can't blame her, there was I time when I almost got lost too. I know how easy it is to be consumed by the darkness." Robin told her while looking at the ground. "And Emma?" He asked, looking up to meet her eyes. "Don't judge her based on her past, of all the tales I've of heard, not one involved any concern for the Queen herself. Don't be another person who doesn't consider her pain."

After staring at him for a few moments she finally replied. "Okay. I'm just worried, that's all."  
_

Regina sighed as she crumbled up the fifth piece of paper in the past two minutes. She took a deep breath and tried again. She put the tip of the pen back down on the paper and started to write.

 **Dear Henry,**  
 **I know I haven't been the best mother but if you would please**

Regina stopped writing and reread what she just wrote. She took the paper in her hands and crumbled it up. She threw the ball of paper in the pile with all the others. She sighed in defeat before deciding to try again.

 **Dear Henry,**  
 **I know you don't want to see me right now but I need to see you.**

She once again grabbed the paper, crumbled it, and threw it in the pile.

 _Useless! I can't let him know how much pain I'm in, he would blame himself._

So she tried again.

 **Dear Henry,**

 **I am totally fine, how are you? I'd like to see you more if you let me, but you don't have to because I know that you don't really want to see me right now but I would really like to see you because without you it feels like a piece of myself is missing and I need you so please, please, please come home baby.**

The words now blurred as they collected in her eyes. They came faster as she looked back at the page.

 _Great, now I'm rambling about nothing! I just sound desperate and insane._

She looked over to the mountain of crumbled up paper, it had to be at least a foot high. She had been trying to come up with the right words to say for three hours now. She closed her eyes and forced the tears away.

 _Okay, just one more time. Just write what you really want him to know._

She got ready to write, but only one thing came to mind.

 **Dear Henry,**

 **I love you.**

She folded her arms and rested her head on them.

 _I give up._  
_

Emma put the video in and turned the TV on. When the TV came on, a picture of Henry and Regina appeared on the screen.

"Wow... You never said she was hot." Robin said, his mouth hanging open in shock as he stared at the former Evil Queen.

Emma rolled her eyes. "She's not hot."

"You're right she's not hot, she's gorgeous. You still date girls?" Robin smirked as Emma rolled her eyes.

"Shut up!" Emma said while laughing.

 _She does look gorgeous though... No, I didn't just think that. I'm just tired._

She hit play on the first video, closing her eyes just in case this was the proof that Henry had a terrible childhood. Her eyes flashed open when she heard laughter. On the screen was a video of Henry, looking around three years old, playing on the playground. Regina wasn't on camera so Emma assumed she was the one filming it.

 _Henry's laughs filled the air, his squeals causing Regina to smile from behind the camera. He climbed the rock wall and went down the tallest slide just to hear his mother's praise. Of course it wasn't necessary, she would praise him for breathing if he wanted her to._

Emma smiled as she watched Henry play.

 _Henry ran across the playground to go play on the slide, but instead he tripped on a rock and fell a few feet in front of Regina._

Suddenly the video became blurry as the camera dropped to the ground. It was a miracle that the camera stayed all in one piece. The camera landed so you could still see Regina and Henry.

 _Regina ran up to her son, immediately wrapping her arms tightly around him._

Robin's eyes widened as he watched the screen.

 _This is the Evil Queen I've heard such terrible stories about?_ Robin thought.

 _"Are you okay, baby?" Regina asked, still not letting Henry out of her arms._

 _"It hurts mommy." Henry said as he held onto her closer._

 _"Where does it hurt?" Regina asked, trying to pull back to look at him but couldn't due to the death grip he had on her._

 _"My knee." Henry told her as she tried to pull back, again she failed in doing so._

 _"Baby, I can't look at your knee if you don't let go." She gently told him. He slowly let go of her but wouldn't stop holding her hand._

Both Robin and Emma were in shock over what they'd just seen.

 _Henry hadn't wanted to let go of Regina._ Emma thought in confusion.

 _Regina inspected his knee, but found nothing. "Well, I think you're going to live." She told him with a smile._

 _Henry's eyes widened with worry as he asked, "You think?"_

 _Regina laughed, "Okay, I know you're going to live."_

The video came to a stop and Emma was still in shock, that was no where near the video she had been expecting. The Regina in the video wasn't the Regina she knew at all. The Regina she knew was cold and guarded. The Regina on the video was warm and loving.

She looked over to Robin to see he was just as shocked as she was. Before either got the chance to talk about it the next video played.

On the screen, a video of Regina cooking appeared. It appeared she hadn't noticed she was being filmed but Emma suddenly understood as barely contained laughs filled the air.

 _Henry brought the camera closer to Regina as she turned away from him. He continued to get closer and closer until he finally got caught._

 _"Are you spying on me?" Regina teasingly asked him. She pretended she hadn't heard him laughing when he first started spying on her._

 _Henry nodded his head up and down to answer her question._

 _"You do know what happens to children who spy on their mothers, right?" She asked as she walked closer to him._

 _"No, what happens to them?" He asked curiously._

 _"They get tickled!" Regina said as she rushed forward before he could escape. Both Henry's and Regina's laughs fit together in perfect harmony as it flooded the speakers. As their laughs died down Henry placed the camera on the counter so you could see both him and his mom._

Robin smiled at the screen, but couldn't help thinking about how much his own son, Roland, was missing.

 _"What now, my little spy?" Regina asked while playfully tapping his nose._

 _Henry looked less than pleased. "Mommy! I'm not your little spy, I'm your little prince, remember?" Henry asked with his most serious face._

 _"I remember dear. You're my everything." Regina said while gazing into his eyes. He smiled in return before turning off the camera._

Emma sadly looked down as she realized what Regina must be going through.

A new video of Henry and Regina wearing matching homemade paper crowns came on the screen. There were two cupcakes sitting in front of them on the table. The one in front of Regina had a candle on it.

Emma smiled at how ridiculous the so-called serious mayor looked in a paper crown.

 _"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear mommy, Happy Birthday to you!" Henry sang as Regina smiled brighter than Emma had ever seen._

 _"Thank you, baby." She said before she blew out the flame on her cupcake. "This has been the best birthday ever."_

 _"Oh wait!" Henry shouted as he ran from his seat to go get something._

 _After about thirty seconds, Henry ran into the room at full speed and ran into Regina side. As he ran into her she reached out and pulled him closer so he wouldn't hit his head on the table._

Robin smiled as he recognized the touch of a mother.

 _"Here." He said, handing her a card he had made her. On the front it said 'please open', so Regina did as instructed and opened up the card. On the inside it read 'To the bestest mommy ever. I love you!" and then she read in parentheses at the bottom 'By the way this is from Henry.' She smiled as read it. "Do you like it?" Henry asked excitedly._

 _Regina smiled back up at him. "I love it." Regina pulled him into a hug so he wouldn't see her tears, but the camera saw them._

Robin and Emma both looked at the video in shock. This couldn't possibly be the same Queen who had killed thousands or the same mayor who Henry swore he hated so much, right?

The next video was of the mother/son dance.

 _Henry and Regina were dancing in the center of the room, commanding the attention of everyone with Regina's grace and Henry's lightheartedness. Regina smiled down a her son, not caring that she didn't know how to dance because neither did he, they were just having fun. They would occasionally look at other people to find out what they were supposed to be doing. They both laughed as they tried to keep up with what everyone else was doing but were failing miserably. So they did their own dance and though they got a few weird looks, they really didn't care._

Robin stared at the screen, taking in how beautiful the former Evil Queen truly was. Emma found herself doing the same, but immediately stopped when she realized it.

 _They looked over at the other's and everyone was spinning their mothers around, so Henry gestured for Regina to do the same. Regina laughed as she tried to bend down low enough for Henry to twirl her._

 _After the dance was over, Henry jumped into Regina's arms shouting "We nailed it!"_

 _"Is that what happened? I don't think we nailed it exactly but it was fun." Regina said, still smiling at her optimistic son._

 _"Yeah, I think we should skip the dancing and go get dessert." Henry said, still excited from his first mother/son dance._

 _"You do? Well we'll see about that." Regina said as the video faded to black._

In the next video Henry was proudly showcasing his drawing of his stuffed horse with the name, Gala, written across the bottom.

 _He was displaying his artwork with a big grin on her face. "Mommy, what did you draw?" He asked her._

 _"Nothing, sweetie. Why don't you show me the drawing of our house?" Regina tried to change the subject._

 _"But I want to know what you drew." Henry prodded, ignoring her question._

 _"Henry, I don't really like showing my drawings to people." Regina said from behind the camera._

Robin curiously looked at the screen.

 _I wonder if there's a story there._ Robin thought to himself.

 _"But you can show them to me right?" Henry asked looking up at her with eyes she couldn't resist._

 _"I suppose so." Regina said while handing the picture to Henry._

 _"That's me!" Henry squealed before showing the camera. It was an incredibly detailed drawing of Henry. "Mommy it looks like a photograph!" Henry said still amazed by the drawing._

Emma was just as amazed as Henry, she had no idea that Regina could draw like that.

 _"You like it?" Regina asked, smiling at her son's approval._

 _"Of course!" Henry excitedly said._

The final video began with Henry on screen in a puppy costume. It appeared to be Halloween by the decorations in the background.

Emma smiled at how adorable her son looked in his costume.

 _"Mommy come here! The camera can't see you if you stand over there." Henry explained._

 _"I'm fine Henry, I'll just stand here and let the camera see you." Regina said, trying to avoid documentation of her current outfit._

 _"But if you don't stand by me then how will the camera see your costume?" Henry asked, not aware that his mother was avoiding it on purpose._

 _"I think the camera is fine just seeing your costume." Regina said hoping to convince her son._

 _But Henry had other plans. He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, then he proceeded to pull her so the camera could see her._

Robin tried to hide a smile as he looked at the adorable woman on screen.

 _She came on screen dressed in a black bodysuit complete with paws, cat ears, a tail, and drawn on whiskers and nose._

Emma tried not to laugh at the woman she once thought to be fearsome.

 _Regina looked at the camera like it had been the one to force her to wear the costume. She tried to hide her face by looking down but that didn't work, you could still see her entire face._

 _She looked over to Henry who was staring at her before whispering, "Say the line." in her ear._

 _Regina looked at the camera like she was dead inside as she said "Have a Happy Meoween." She ended it with a fake smile to please Henry._

 _The video then ended as both her and Henry exchanged smiles._  
_

"So what now, do we have play rock, paper, scissors for who gets to date her?" Robin teasingly asked her.

Emma just lightly smacked his forearm. "Robin this is serious! Now I know I can trust her, but what am I going to now?"

"Well you could give her number to me." Robin replied with a smirk. After Emma glared at him he replied with a more serious answer. "You go over to her house and apologize to her. Tell her so long as Henry wants to, she may see him whenever she wants to."

"You really think that would make up for everything?" Emma hesitantly asked.

"Not everything, but it's a start. I also think you should take me with you when you go." Robin replied with a smile that revealed his dimples.

"If I give you her number will you shut up?" Emma asked, reaching for her phone.

"Deal! I won't talk for the rest of my life if you'd like." Robin replied before adding, "You're sure you don't want to go out with her?"

"I'm sure she will reject you anyway, she's not very open to new people." Emma replied, dodging the question.  
_

Henry had been watching every video from the hallway, by the time they were over he couldn't stop crying. He ran upstairs as fast as he could. He laid down on his bed, and sobbed. As much as he tried to deny it, he missed his mom who would do anything to make him happy, even if it caused herself pain. He half expected Emma to come rushing into the room, hold him close, and take away all his tears. Because that was what Regina would do, it wasn't Emma's fault, Regina seemed to have a sixth sense for telling when Henry needed her.

 _I don't miss her, I'm just crying because I didn't get to do those things with Emma._

Henry told himself, not ready to admit the truth. He fell asleep with Gala in his arms. He told himself it was because the stuffed horse was something familiar, but in reality it was because it still smelled of Regina's vanilla perfume.

 **A/N: So if you couldn't tell at the moment I'm leaning towards Outlaw Queen but I left it open for Swan Queen! I love both ships which is making this more difficult to choose. Does anyone have anything they would like to see in the next few chapters? It can be anything Regal Believer (I need some flashback ideas), Outlaw Queen, or Swan Queen.**

 **Update: After seeing how many of you still want Swan Queen I've decided to create a poll to see which one is most popular. Link: poll/polls_tab_ ?pollid=476492 I'm going to bed but will check it when I wake back up :) Oh and I will definitely have the next chapter up tomorrow, I already have most of it written.**


	5. The Good Kind

After cleaning up her mess of crumbled papers, she headed upstairs to retrieve the one video she didn't give to Emma. She had watched this video several times over the past few years. She had watched it every time Henry told her he didn't love her.

She searched through her closet until she found what she was looking for. She walked past her bed and down the stairs into the living room. She put the video in and her six year old son appeared on the screen. She smiled at how cute he was, he had taken this video without her knowing. It was a gift for Mother's Day.

 _Henry turned away from the camera to grab his note cards. As soon as she grabbed them he turned back around to face the camera._

 _"Hi mommy!" Henry said, a smile now covering his face._

Regina smiled brightly as the words she had been dying to hear echoed throughout her house. It gave the house warm feeling, as opposed to the lonely feeling it had since Henry left.

 _"Happy Mother's Day! Here are ten things I love about you." Henry looked down to his note cards. "One, you always fix my nightmares. Two, you protect me. Three, you always smell like vanilla. Four, you give good hugs."_

Regina closed her eyes as she mouthed every word, she had memorized every pause in his voice, every word he spoke too fast, and all the words he couldn't quite pronounce.

 _"Five, you are always there for me. Six, you let me sit in your lap when we watch movies. Seven, you let me help you cook even though I spill always things. Eight, you tuck me in a night. Nine, you sing to me. Ten, you make me brownies, the good kind with chocolate chips in the middle." Henry said, staring at his note cards the whole time._

Regina laughed at the last one, he had always had a weak spot for brownies.

 _"I love you mommy! Happy-"_

Regina smiled as she realized what was going to happen next.

 _"Henry, it's time for-" Regina was cut off by an alarmed six year old._

 _"No, mommy it's a surprise! Stay in the hallway!" Henry said while holding the door shut. Regina's amused laughs could be heard from the hallway._

 _"Okay dear, I won't come in. Dinner's ready, so when you're done come downstairs." Regina replied._

 _"Okay." Henry answered. He waited until her heard Regina's footsteps going down the stairs before resuming his speech._

 _He walked back over to the camera and kept his voice to a whisper just in case. "Happy Mother's Day! I have to go eat dinner, so bye!"_

Regina wiped the tears from her eyes at the memory. She smiled back at the screen as Henry tried to figure out how to turn off the camera.

She felt complete for a moment, but suddenly she felt as if something weren't quite right. Her first instinct was to run back upstairs to check on Henry but then realized he wasn't there. She tried to push the feeling away, but couldn't seem to shake it.

She headed upstairs to Henry's room, something she now did on a regular basis for comfort. She took one look at the bed and saw that Gala was gone. She spent the next ten minutes searching the room for it, but it was nowhere to be found.

 _What am I going to tell Henry?_

She thought back to the only other time they had lost Gala.

 _"Mommy! She's gone! She's gone!" Henry said running into the room crying before hugging his mother's leg like his life depended on it._

 _"Baby, who's gone?" Regina asked, rubbing the back of his head in an attempt to soothe him._

 _"Gala!" Henry screamed._

 _"Calm down baby, I'll find her." Regina told him. "Stay here, I'm going to go check the car." Henry nodded his head in response before reluctantly letting go of her leg._

 _They had just returned from a two hour car trip to an amusement park . Regina was sure Henry had just left it in the car. She looked around the back seat before checking the front ones. After she didn't find them there she checked the trunk before going back inside the house._

 _"Did you find her?" Henry asked excitedly, fully expecting his mother to be to fix the problem._

 _"Henry, I'm sorry she wasn't in the car." Upon seeing the how disappointed Henry was that she couldn't fix everything she quickly added, "But don't worry, I'm not done looking yet." This earned her a half smile from Henry._

 _"Do you remember seeing her in the car?" Regina asked him._

 _After thinking for a moment Henry replied. "I know I didn't leave her at the amusement park, but I don't remember seeing her on the ride home."_

 _Suddenly Regina had an idea. She raced to grab her phone and searched for the number to gas station they had stopped at to use the restroom. She quickly called the number._

 _"Hello?... Yes, I'm calling because I think my son left his stuffed horse... Okay, thank you. Have a nice night." Regina quickly put down the phone and ran over to Henry._

 _"Okay, Gala is at the gas station." Regina told him, trying to calm him down._

 _"Yay! Can we go get her?" Henry asked, relieved his mother found his horse._

 _"Oh, Henry it's 10 pm-" Regina was about to tell him they would go get her tomorrow, but after looking at the disappointed look on her son's face she decided against it. "So if we are going to get there before they close, we need to leave now."_

 _Henry looked back up at her a smiled before wrapping his arms around her. Regina gratefully returned the hug._

 _After about fifteen minutes they were finally ready to go. They talked for half the way until Henry finally started to get tired and couldn't form a sentence that made since._

 _Regina would look back every couple of minutes to see him almost fall asleep before lifting his head up and opening his eyes. In order to fall asleep Henry had always had to have Gala in his arms._

 _They soon pulled up to the gas station around 11:30 pm._

 _"Henry, stay here, I'll go get her." Regina said as she left the car._

 _When she came back she gave Gala to Henry and placed a kiss on his forehead. Henry had fallen asleep shortly after._

 _About halfway home Henry woke up. He suddenly realized that his stuffed horse had been returned. "Mommy, you did it." Henry sleepily said._

 _"Yes, baby." Regina replied with a smile. He would have startled her, had she not been checking the mirror every few minutes to make sure he was okay._

 _"Thank you." Henry mumbled before falling back to sleep, causing Regina to smile at her little boy._

She still felt like something wasn't quite right, and she knew it wasn't about the missing stuffed horse. She finally decided to stop ignoring her instincts and called Emma.

"Regina? It's 9 pm, is something wrong?" Emma answered.

"Miss Swan, I need you to check on Henry." Regina told her, completely ignoring Emma's question. She already knew the time, now she needed to know if her son was okay.

"Regina, Henry's fine he's upstairs in his room, probably sleeping." Emma told her, not wanting to leave the comfort of the couch.

"You don't understand. I just need you to check on him." Regina told her a bit forcefully.

"Then help me understand, tell me what's going on Regina." Emma told her, adjusting her position on the couch as she did.

Regina took a deep breath before explaining, "Ever since Henry was little, I'd get this strange feeling any time Henry was ever hurt or upset. I started having the same feeling earlier tonight, which is why I need you to check on Henry."

Emma sighed as she got up from the couch and walked to Henry's room. "I'll check on him Regina, but I'm telling you he's fine." Emma opened the door to find Henry curled up in bed, hugging a stuffed horse. As she moved closer she could see the tear streaks. "He's hugging a stuffed horse?" Emma said as more of a question than a statement.

"The horse's name is Gala." Regina corrected her.

"Of course it is." Emma replied a bit sarcastically before adding, "He's sleeping but it appears he had been crying, I'll ask him about it tomorrow. " Emma told her.

Regina sighed in relief. "Thank you, Miss Swan. Goodbye." Regina hung up, not waiting for Emma to answer.

Wanting to make his worries go away she decided to make brownies to take over to him tomorrow. She made sure she made "the good kind, with chocolate chips in the middle" as Henry had said.  
_

"Hey, ma, do you think I could go see Regina today?" Henry casually asked as he tried to act like he had just come up with the idea. In reality he had been thinking about it all morning.

Emma stared at him in shock for a moment before replying. "Yeah, let me call her and ask." Emma said while racing to get her phone before he could change his mind. She went into the other room for some privacy.

"Miss Swan, is something wrong? Did you find out what Henry was crying about?" Regina urgently asked, she hadn't been able to get much sleep due to her stress over it.

"No, nothing is wrong. I couldn't get him to tell me. I'm calling to see if Henry could come over later today." Emma told her.

"Miss Swan, I appreciate that you are trying to help but forcing him to see me is not going to do anything other than push him further away."

"Regina, I'm not forcing him, he asked if he could." Emma explained, suddenly realizing Regina's mindset.

Regina's end of the phone got extremely quiet before she finally replied. "Don't you dare lie to me!" Regina angrily shouted, trying to mask the quiver in her voice.

"Regina, I'm not lying to you. He wants to see you." Emma said, trying not to act differently even though she could hear the pain in the mayor's voice.

Emma thought she could hear a barely concealed sob over the speakers.

"Really?" Regina asked her in a soft whisper.

"Yes, Regina. He really wants to see you." Emma gently told her.

"When does he want to come over?" Regina asked. She considered asking if Henry wanted to spend the night but decided against it after what happened last time.

"He said he wanted to come over today, but I think he would understand if that was too ear-" Emma was interrupted mid sentence.

"No, no that's fine. I'd love to have him over today. Anytime would work." Regina said, trying to contain her excitement.

"Okay well, as soon as he finishes breakfast we'll come over. Goodbye Regina." Emma told her as she walked back into the kitchen

"Goodbye Miss Swan." Regina replied.  
_

"You okay kid?" Emma asked Henry as they pulled into Regina's driveway.

"I'm fine." Henry replied. He had been tense all morning, and as much as he tried to deny it, it was mostly due to how badly he wanted to see Regna.

It had hurt when Regina gave all their videos to Emma, like throwing away their memories.

Henry got out of the car and patiently waited for Emma to get out to so it wouldn't seem like he was too excited to see Regina.

They barely had to knock on the door before it swung open, revealing the regal mayor behind it.

"Good morning, Miss Swan." She said in her coldest voice, feeling the need to show her strength after the vulnerability she had just shown the sheriff. As she turned to greet Henry, once again, her entire demeanor changed. She became warmer. "Good morning, Henry."

"Morning, Regina. I have to take care of some business in town so I won't be staying this time." Emma announced. She had made up the story in the car when she told Henry. She had decided that the two of them needed some alone time.

"Oh, okay. That would be alright. Henry are you okay with that?" Regina asked her son, nervously awaiting his answer.

"Yeah, that would be okay." Henry said, trying not to sound too excited. Regina gave him a slight smile as she gestured for him to come inside.

After Emma left and the two of them were inside the room had an awkward silence. Regina gently placed a hand of Henry's shoulder, trying to make him feel more comfortable. She closed her eyes as she anticipated him pulling away. After a moment she opened her eyes in shock when it appeared he was leaning into her touch.

"So, did you have something in mind you wanted to do today?" Regina asked as she walked towards the kitchen, not quite knowing how to accept Henry's sudden affection.

"Not really." Henry stated. It was the truth, he hadn't anything in mind other than just wanting to be around her. He told himself it was just because he was bored at Emma's house.

"Oh! Emma told me you were crying last night so I made you some brownies to try and cheer you up." Regina told him, leaving out the part where she had been worried sick over what he could be crying about, and the fact that she had been the one to ask Emma to check on him. Regina got the tray of brownies and extended them to Henry.

"Thank you." Henry said as he took one.

"No problem." Regina replied, cutting herself off before she could use one of her loving nicknames for him. "Do you want to talk about why you were crying?" She asked.

"No thank you." Henry told her. Regina looked down a little in disappointment as he did so.

Henry took a bite of the brownie and realized there were chocolate chips in the middle. "Number ten." Henry mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Regina asked, not quite sure she'd heard him right.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's from an old video I made for you... It's dumb." Henry replied a little bit sadly, thinking for a moment she wouldn't remember the video.

"Ten, you make me brownies, the good kind with chocolate chips in the middle." Regina quoted the video, causing Henry to look up at her in shock.

"How did you remember that?" Henry asked her, his heart fluttering in his chest when he realized she had remembered.

"I kept the video." Regina simply replied, although she was thrilled Henry had remembered the video too.

"But I thought you gave all the videos to Emma." Henry asked a little bit bitterly as he took another bite of his brownie.

"I didn't... I couldn't give her that one, it meant too much to me to let go of." Regina replied while looking to the ground.

Henry was silent for a moment before he finally spoke up. "Do you think we could watch it together?" He tried to asked casually.

"Of course Henry." Regina told him, a smile appearing on her lips as she did.

 **A/N: So after reading the reviews it seem like half of you want swan queen and half of you want outlaw queen so as you may have seen, I made a poll. Link: u/8489082/RegalBunny5#**


	6. Relief and Loneliness

**A/N: Okay so no flashbacks this chapter cause I forgot and I'm running low on ideas today. But to make up for it there is some Swan Queen moments, some Outlaw Queen moments, and lots of Regal Believer. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Emma jumped out of bed the second she heard screaming coming from Henry's room. She immediately raced towards his room thinking that someone had broken in. When she arrived in his room she found he was alone, drenched in sweat, and thrashing around the bed. She raced over to him and tried to shake him in an effort to wake him up. She ended up making it worse, and causing Henry to tremble more.

She decided to try shaking him again but gentler this time. Still she got the same results. She turned on the lights to see him better, only to find several tear streaks coming down his face.

In desperation she tried shaking him once more, but this time the second her fingers made contact with his skin he let out a frantic scream.

 _"_ _Please! Please don't hurt her!" Henry yelled at the crowd as he raced to stand in front of his tied up mother. They had all gathered to watch the Evil Queen finally die. Not a soul cared about her, they all wanted her dead. All except Henry of course._

 _"_ _Henry please get away from her! You know who she is, who she will always be. She'll hurt you!" Emma yelled out. Henry knew he had once said the same thing, that he fully believed it. In fact, there was still a part of him that believed it, but he knew killing her wasn't the answer._

 _"_ _No. She might hurt anyone else but I know she wouldn't hurt me. Yes she's the Evil Queen but she doesn't deserve this!" Henry yelled out but it felt like no one heard his pleas. He had spent so long trying to convince everyone that she truly was the Evil Queen, but now that everyone agreed, he wasn't sure he wanted them to._

 _"_ _Tie the boy up too!" One man shouted as others followed in agreement. They started to crowd around him and trap him so he couldn't escape. He looked to Emma for help but the only thing she did was mouth the words 'I'm sorry'._

 _"_ _No!" Another shout rang out, but this time it came from the Evil Queen herself. She felt desperate and helpless. She didn't care what they did to her so long as they didn't touch Henry. She tried to escape the ropes and chains so she could protect him but she couldn't break free._

 _"_ _Relax, we'll let him go after you're dead." The man sneered as he grabbed Henry and began tying him up. Henry tried struggling against the man but he wasn't strong enough._

 _"_ _Please don't hurt her, she's my-"Despite what has happened he still couldn't bring himself to admit it. He looked over to Regina and saw an unreadable expression painting her face._

 _He felt as if he were in a haze as they held a knife to his mother's throat. "Please don't! Please! This isn't the answer!" He shouted aimlessly at the crowd with tears pooling in his eyes. He watched as his mother dropped to the ground, no longer there to protect him, no longer there to fix everything._

 _Henry felt the hot tears running down his face. He couldn't hear anything around him. "She's my mother." He said to no one in particular. He felt the sobs take over as they untied him. He tried desperately to run to his mother's side but someone was pulling him away. As he was being dragged away he could see the tears on his mother's face._

"I'll just call Regina, she'll know what to do." She told herself as she frantically looked for her phone.

She finally found her phone on the nightstand beside her bed. She was about to call Regina, but it appeared Regina had already tried calling her 15 times within the past twenty minutes. She scrolled through her contacts but before she could find Regina's number, she got an incoming call from the former mayor.

"Hello?" Emma said as she answered the phone.

"Is Henry okay? The strange feeling is back." Regina immediately asked, sounding stressed as she did so.

Emma was a tiny bit jealous of Regina. Emma could tell Henry was distressed because she heard him screaming in the room next to hers, not because she got a strange feeling miles away. "I'm not sure." Emma hesitantly replied as she walked back into Henry's room.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Regina said in a frustrated tone. She had been worried sick for the past hour.

"Well, he's having some sort of nightmare. He shaking, sweaty, and every time I touch him he jumps away or screams." Emma told her, a little afraid of what her reaction would be to hearing that she had made their son scream. After a moment of silence Emma checked her phone to find that Regina had hung up. Emma looked at her phone in confusion, she thought Regina would do anything for Henry.

Within seconds a cloud of purple smoke appeared in Henry's bedroom. Regina hadn't even bothered to acknowledge Emma's presence in the room as she looked at Henry. She took a step towards him then immediately stopped. She look at directly at Emma with desperation in her eyes. For a moment it took Emma off guard.

"May I…" Regina hesitantly asked, not able to ask if she could help Henry without her voice breaking.

It took Emma a moment to let it settle in that Regina was asking permission to go near her own son. She hadn't thought when Henry moved in with her that it would affect Regina like this. Emma gave a slight nod of her head in approval. She sadly smiled at the once fiery mayor. She didn't resemble that mayor at all right down, when Emma looked at Regina, the only thing she saw a mother who was lost without her child.

Regina immediately raced forward after getting Emma's permission to do so. She took one hand and placed it on Henry's forehead. He jumped back for a split second before leaning into her touch. Regina looked just as shocked as Emma was. Emma carefully watched as Regina's expression changed from one of shock to one of worry. She looked back at Henry to find that he was thrashing again.

Regina put her arms around him and placed her head on top of his. "Henry, it's okay. You're safe now. Everything's going to be fine." She whispered to him, it always worked when he was little. Upon hearing her words he stopped moving around so much. "I won't let anything hurt you, Henry." Henry began slowly waking up as he whimpered in fear. "Shhh, I once promised I would protect you and I intend to keep that promise." She told him as she held back tears of her own. "My little prince." She whispered as she closed her eyes. Henry woke up gasping for air and immediately jumped out of Regina's arms. He looked fearfully around the room. Regina stood up off the bed in case she was the cause of his fear, her heart breaking at the thought of Henry being afraid of her.

As soon as Henry laid eyes on Regina he jumped into her arms, holding on to her dear life. Regina was completely frozen with shocked this time, before he was asleep and didn't entirely know it was her, but now he was awake and knew exactly who she was.

"Henry, you know I'm not Emma right?" Regina asked him, a little afraid that once he knew this he would run into Emma's arms, leaving Regina behind. Emma looked sadly at Regina for a moment.

 _Did she really not think her own son wouldn't willingly give her a hug?_

"I know." Henry replied, causing Regina to smile brighter than Emma had ever seen. Emma had a new understanding of Regina, she now knew why Regina didn't want her going anywhere near Henry when she first arrived in town. Regina didn't want Emma to take away her son, and whether Emma meant to or not, that's exactly what happened.

Regina wrapped her arms tightly around Henry as the shock wore off. She never wanted this moment to end. "Darling, do you want to talk about your dream?" She asked him gently, not wanting to do anything to push him away.

Henry got his tears under control before replying. "You were tied up, and-" Henry wiped away the tears. "and they were trying to kill you and I told them not to but they tied me up too." Regina unknowingly make a fist with her hands out of anger.

 _It's just a dream._ She reminded herself.

Henry started sobbing and Regina assumed that it was because they had tied him up. "Then they killed you and they wouldn't let me say goodbye." He finished while sobbing louder as Regina pulled him closer.

"I won't let anyone hurt you Henry." She told him in her most determined voice.

"It's not me I'm worried about, what if someone hurts you?" Henry asked as he snuggled closer.

Regina felt relief flood through her when she realized her son still cared about her, a little bit at least. She let the tears of happiness run down her face as she comforted her son.

 _No._

Regina let the loneliness consume her yet again. She couldn't let herself be tricked.

 _He's just scared and confused. He doesn't understand what he feels about me and so this is his way of working through it._ She told herself, this time letting new tears cover her face.

"I'm fine darling, you don't need to worry about me." Regina said in her usual emotionless tone. She wanted to tell him how much it meant to her that he still cared, but she couldn't let herself get hurt.

After Henry had fallen asleep, Regina joined Emma in the living room. Emma had left after Henry calmed down to give them some privacy.

"Am I a bad mother?" Emma asked Regina while staring at the ground.

"What?" Regina asked, clearly confused as to why Emma thought this when it was her that Henry wanted to be with.

"I couldn't even figure out what to do when he had a nightmare and you walked in and fixed everything. The second he woke up, it was you he wanted." Emma told her, thinking it was a compliment.

"Relax, this is just temporary. He was scared and wanted something or someone familiar. He will wake up tomorrow morning and everything will go back to the way it was. He will realize it was never really me he wanted, that he had actually wanted you." Regina said as she held back the tears. She actually believed what she had said. She couldn't bear to face Henry's rejection and this was her way of protecting herself.

"Oh, Regina. That's not was I meant I-" She stopped herself from continuing when Regina disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Regina laid in bed and sobbed until she couldn't tell the difference between her sobs and the silence. She let the pain surround her as she closed herself off to the possibility of happiness.

 _Why do I do this to myself? Why can't I let myself be happy?_

She let another sob take control of her as she thought that if she was right, Henry wouldn't want anything to do with her once he woke up.

Just then she heard a knock coming from the front door. She quickly used magic to clear away her tears and get dressed into something more regal than silk pajamas. She couldn't let anyone see her like this.

She swung the door open expecting to find Emma but instead found a stranger on her front porch.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Regina used all her sadness to make the coldest voice she possibly could at that moment.

"No, but I know you. I'm a friend of Emma's, I watched the videos of you and Henry with her. My name is Robin Locksley." He told her, unfazed by her tough exterior.

"Why are you here? And why exactly did Emma think it was okay to share my history with a complete stranger?" Regina harshly said, this time with her mask and walls fully up. This man had already seen too far behind her walls, and she wasn't going to let him see anymore of her vulnerability.

"Emma wanted someone else to be there to help her decide if it would be safe to let Henry see you. I'm here because Emma was telling me about earlier tonight and I thought you might want someone to talk to." Robin told her with a smile she found herself secretly admiring.

"So Emma sent you." Regina scoffed, she wasn't a child that needed looking after.

"Not at all. In all honesty I begged her to give me your address. She doesn't know I'm here right now, I promised her I wouldn't bother you tonight." Robin told her as he stepped inside the house.

"I don't remember inviting you inside." Regina said as she gave him a cold stare.

"And I don't remember you greeting me politely, so I assumed courteous rules didn't apply to you." Robin told her with a smirk.

"I thought you told Miss Swan you weren't going to bother me tonight." Regina said as she rolled her eyes at his last remark.

"I'm not bothering you, I'm annoying you. There's a difference." Robin said, earning him a hidden smirk from Regina.

"So you're just here to annoy me then?" Regina sassily asked him while rolling her eyes again.

"No, I'm here to see if you want to talk about what happened with your prince." Robin said, causing Regina to give him a confused look before realizing he had seen the videos.

"No I would not like to talk about my- Henry with a complete stranger." Regina told him with a little anger in her voice.

"Why do you do that? He is still your son, Regina." Robin asked her.

"Really? Because it certainly doesn't feel like it." Regina said, this time with fire as she looked straight into his ice blue eyes. Robin could so clearly see the broken woman behind the mask in that moment.

"I know it's hard. If my son didn't want to see me I would be lost. But Regina I saw how he looked at you in those videos. He does love you." Robin told her with an intense look in his eyes.

"Yes, exactly. Looked, as in past tense. Now he doesn't want anything to do with me." Regina told him, her voice breaking as she did so.

"Regina-" He was cut off by Regina.

"Please leave." She told him, staring into his eyes, begging him to understand.

After a moment of hesitance he responded. "Okay. I'll respect your boundaries, but I'll be back." He told her as he headed for the door.

Regina let tears fall faster down her face as the front door shut.

 **A/N: Please tell me what you think! I love hearing all your reviews they are what make me write some days. So I have decided for now I'm going to do a mix of Outlaw Queen and Swan Queen and see which one feels right with the story. Hope you liked this chapter!**


	7. A Simple Story

_After Robin left Regina decided that she should be with Henry for as long as he would let her. She quickly drove over to Emma's apartment, hoping she wasn't too late. She knocked on the door and took as deep breath as she waited for Emma to answer the door. The door swung open and as Emma saw who it was on the other side of the door her mouth hung open in shock._

 _"_ _Regina? What are you doing here?" Emma asked her as she motioned for Regina to step inside. Regina immediately stepped inside but didn't go too far into the apartment._

 _"_ _I was wondering if I may see Henry." Regina asked Emma with her usual icy tone._

 _Emma hesitated a bit before replying. "Regina, I don't think you should see him right now. You're obviously in a fragile state and I don't want that to impact Henry. Maybe you should wait a few days before seeing him." Emma told her._

 _"_ _Are you saying I can't see my son?" Regina asked her in a hostile tone. The anger was shining in her eyes._

 _"_ _Regina, listen, I just think you should wait to-" Emma was interrupted by the fury of an angry mother._

 _"_ _No, you listen to me! You will not keep me away from my son!" Regina told Emma as she moved closer to her in an intimidating way. The unshed tears brightly shone in her eyes._

 _Emma's anger was building up inside until it was finally released. "No, he's my son! See, this is what I mean. What if you acted this way around Henry?!" Emma angrily shouted at the woman in front of her._

 _Regina felt the anger and the pain rise at Emma words. Before she knew what she was doing, a fireball appeared in her hands and she was throwing it at Emma. Emma quickly jumped sideways to avoid the fireball._

 _Regina watched in horror at what happened next._

 _"_ _Ma? Reg-" Henry words were cut short as the fire ball came into contact with him. He screamed out as his vision blurred before he fell to the floor._

 _"_ _Henry!" Both Regina and Emma cried out. They both rushed over to comfort him but Emma beat Regina to him._

 _"_ _Get away from my son!" Emma shouted at Regina as she protectively wrapped her arms around Henry._

 _Regina usually would have protested but she was in a state of shock. Her whole world had come to a complete stop and she wasn't sure what to do. She quickly vanished into her empty house._

 _She knew she had to be crying by now but she couldn't feel the tears running down her face. She couldn't feel anything around her. She just felt lost and helpless. She looked around her house, not quite recognizing anything in it. She walked from room to room as she slowly remembered everything. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a familiar face. She stared at this woman for a short moment before walking closer to her. She slowly grabbed an old book from the coffee table but she never took her eyes off the woman. She took one last look at the horrified woman as she held the book closer. Regina looked at the woman in disgust. She had seen this woman many times before. She hated this woman more than anyone else._

 _"_ _You're a monster!" She angrily shouted out as she threw the book as hard as she possibly could at the mirror. It shattered into tiny pieces, causing her reflection to disappear. She angrily marched around the rooms destroying everything in sight. She left nothing untouched by her fury._

 _After the anger passed she walked back upstairs to the only room she had left untouched, Henry's room. Upon walking into the room she collapsed to her knees. She knew there was a possibility Henry was dead and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't forget the sound of his screams or the look of horror on his face. She took a long hard look at the woman in Henry's mirror. She closed her eyes as more tears flooded her eyes._

 _"_ _I hurt him. I'm the monster." Regina whispers to herself.  
__

Regina desperately tried to remember what had been a dream and what had been reality. Everything was blurred together and she could no longer tell if she had actually hurt her beloved son. Her stomach flipped at the thought.

She quickly grabbed her phone and called Emma. She took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm.

"Hello?" Emma asked as she tried to decide what to eat for breakfast.

"Hello, Miss Swan. Is Henry feeling better this morning?" Regina nervously asked but did her best to conceal her worries.

"No." Emma said as Regina could feel her heart drop. "He was extremely upset when he out that you left." Regina let out a sigh of relief but her heart was still pounding.

"Tell him I'm sorry for leaving." Regina blankly told her. She couldn't think as the relief flooded through her veins.

"He doesn't need to hear you're sorry. He wants to come over today." Emma told her as she grabbed a bowl for her cereal.

Suddenly Regina's relief was replaced with fear. She was terrified she might actually hurt Henry. It may have been just a dream but it felt so real. She could vividly remember the look on his face and the pain in his screams.

"Emma, I don't think that's such a good idea." Regina nervously told her as she finally got out of Henry's bed.

"Regina, last week you would have done anything to be with Henry. I'm not letting you back out of this because you're scared he'll reject you. He needs you Regina. He is coming over today, end of discussion." Emma boldly told her before hanging up the phone.

Regina stood there in shock for a moment before closing her eyes and trying to shut out her fears.  
_

Regina nervously stared at the ground as she tried to avoid looking at Henry. She wanted so badly to just pull him close and never let go but she was even more terrified of hurting him. Henry had been staring at her for the past couple of minutes trying to decide what to do. Emma had left to give them some privacy but after she had left they had gone silent. However it didn't take too long for Henry to break the silence.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked as he reached out to touch Regina's hand but she jumped back before he could touch her.

"I'm fine Henry." She told him with a slight smile. "Did you have anything you wanted to do today?" Regina asked, trying to change the subject.

"Actually I do have something in mind. Will you tell me a story from when I was younger?" Henry innocently asked but to Regina this meant everything. She suddenly forgot about her fears. Every time he had a nightmare in the past, Regina would tell him stories from when he was younger. It had always calmed him down.

Regina gave him a real smile for the first time since entering the house as she replied. "Of course, did you have any in mind?" Regina asked before she hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder.

"The story about the time I was afraid of the storm." Henry told her before quietly adding. "And could we go lay in your bed?"

Regina was completely speechless so instead of replying she softly nodded as she held back the tears. As they headed upstairs to her bedroom, Henry gently held her hand. Regina gasped in shock before a smile appeared on her face. Every time Henry thought she might let go he held on a bit tighter. They entered the room before laying down on the bed. Regina tried to give him some distance if he wanted it but he moved closer to her. Regina soon began telling him the story.

"When you were almost four there was a major storm in Storybrook…"

 _"_ _Mommy, help!" Henry cries woke her from her peaceful sleep. Her eyes flashed open before she immediately jumped out of bed and ran down the hallway to her son's room. She looked around the room for any danger but saw none._

 _"_ _Mommy please help. I'm scared." Henry said in barely a whisper. He was completely hidden with his head under the covers and his legs were pulled up to his chest. Regina softly smiled at the bump under the covers of his bed. Regina gently pulled down the covers causing Henry to tremble as he desperately tried to pull them back over his head._

 _"_ _Baby, it's okay. It's just me." Regina softly told him causing him to peak over the covers. The second he saw it was his mother he launched himself into her arms. She tightly wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to take away his fear. As she felt his tears on her cheek she slightly pulled back to wipe away his tears._

 _"_ _It's okay, it's just a storm." She whispered soothingly in his ear. He snuggled closer to her as he buried his face into her shoulder. She put her hand on the back of his head as she gently picked him up. "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?" She asked him._

 _Henry pulled back as he looked at her with a confused expression. "Will you sleep in there with me?"_

 _Regina smiled at her son's adorable expression as she answered. "Of course I will darling." She told him before placing a soft kiss on his forehead, causing him to smile. He copied his mother and placed a kiss on her forehead._

 _Suddenly a loud crash of thunder rang through the sky causing Henry to scream as he clung to his mother. She protectively put her head over his as she walked to her room. She tried to set him down on the bed but he wouldn't let go. She eventually gave up and tried to lay on the bed while she continued to hold him._

 _He still jumped at even the slightest sound, but he was easily calmed down by Regina. He eventually calmed down enough to fall asleep. Regina savored the moment with her little prince for as long as she could before sleep washed over her too._

"But before I could fall asleep you-" Regina about to finish her story but was cut short.

"But I was still awake and I thanked you for protecting me." Henry finished for her with a smile on his face. She smiled back at him as she put a hand over his. It was a simple story but it had been Henry's favorite for reasons Regina couldn't figure out. Henry knew exactly why he loved that story so much; even I he wouldn't let himself admit it. He loved it because it was a sign that she would always protect him, even from something as simple as a sound.  
_

"Emma just called; she will be here in five minutes to pick you up." Regina sadly told him as she walked into the room with a new bowl of popcorn for Henry. They had been watching a movie before Emma called.

Henry stared at the ground for a moment before replying. "I was thinking maybe I could sleep here tonight." Henry told her as he tried to act like it was no big deal.

All the fears from earlier flooded her mind as she began to visibly tremble. "Oh, um, if Emma allows it you may stay here." Regina told him as she avoided making eye contact with him.

"I don't have to if you don't want me to." Henry told her, sensing her uneasiness.

"No!" Regina nearly shouted. The fear of losing him overpowered all other fears she had. "I would love to have you spend the night over here, I just…" Regina told him this time looking him in the eyes. Regina looked away so he wouldn't see her tears but it was too late. "Why do you want to stay over here?"

Henry looked at the floor as he decided what to say. Regina tried to keep her tears at bay. "I just need my mom." He simply replied but this was all it took to break her. She broke down into tears as her son called her 'mom' again. To other mothers this was a simple everyday occurrence, but to her it was a rare occurrence. She knew they still had a long road to go back to being the way they used to be but this was a start. Henry wrapped his arms around her waist as he tried to stop her tears.  
_

Regina tucked Henry into bed and turned on a small nightlight. Henry hadn't used it for year but it was an old habit Regina had absentmindedly done. She started to head out the door but before she could leave she heard her son's voice.

"Could I sleep in your room tonight? I know I'm too old but could I do it just one more time."

"You're not too old, and yes you may." Regina tried to tell him in a calm voice but she could tell her excitement shone through.

 **A/N: Sorry for the wait, I haven't got much sleep the past few days and didn't have enough energy to finish this chapter. Please tell me what you think and please tell me moments you want to see between Henry and Regina. I seriously need some ideas. Thank you so much to everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, or follows this story!**


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